Would You Recognize Your CEO?

Would You Recognize Your CEO?

40% of workers say they've never met their CEO.

If you had to pick your CEO out of a police lineup, could you? If so, congratulations, because a significant percentage of workers today say they couldn't do the same, according to a recent survey from CareerBuilder. The survey finds that a surprising number of employees don't know much about their company's executive leadership team-–nor about its bottom line. What are executives to do? A company's leadership has to establish a visible, public presence that will give employees a positive impression of the executive team and a sense that they're part of a successful, forward-thinking company. "The CEO and, in some cases, other senior leaders are the face of the company both internally and externally," says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "They need to find a level of accessibility that allows them to connect with employees, while on the other hand, dedicating the necessary time for building relationships with outside stakeholders. Employees realize their top leaders can't know everyone on a first-name basis. But they do expect their leaders to be a public symbol that embodies the organization's values." An estimated 7,780 professionals took part in the research.